Basic Biographical Details

Name:

Robert Grieve Melvin

Designation:

Architect

Born:

c. 1839

Died:

13 December 1879

Bio Notes:

Robert Grieve Melvin was born c.1839, the son of Andrew Melvin, master brewer and distiller and his wife Jane Grieve. No details are known of his training but he inherited James Smith's practice in Glasgow on his death in December 1863 and completed Smith's Stirling's Library on Miller Street. He entered into a short-lived partnership with William Leiper early in 1864. The partnership ended in a dispute about 1867, Melvin's only significant work apart from Stirling's Library being the Glasgow Gas Company's palazzo at 42 Virginia Street, built in 1867.

Melvin married Elizabeth Gordon (or Ritchie - she was a widow) at Rocknayfaulds Cottage, Cathcart Road, Hutchesontown, Glasgow on 28 January 1869. Elizabeth was the daughter of George Gordon, railway contractor and Elizabeth Young, They had a son, Robert, born in Glasgow on 14 March 1871. Robert Grieve Melvin continued to work as an architect at 74 Argyle Street but in the later 1870s perhaps as a result of the City of Glasgow Bank crash gave up to work as a hotel keeper. In 1878 the family moved to Fleming Grove, Dunoon.

Robert Grieve Melvin died of phthisis at 38 Berkeley Terrace, Glasgow on 13 December 1879.

Private and Business Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this architect:

Address

Type

Date from

Date to

Notes

74, Argyle Street, Glasgow, Scotland

Private/business

1868

c. 1878

124, St Vincent Street, Glasgow, Scotland

Business

Before 1868

After 1870

Fleming Grove, Dunoon, Argyll, Scotland

Private

c. 1878

Employment and Training

Employers

The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this architect (click on an item to view details):